Set in the financial centres of 1820s Frankfurt and London, Jezebel’s Daughter (1880) tells the story of two widows: Madame Fontaine, who will go to any lengths to secure her daughter’s marriage, and Mrs Wagner, who devotes herself to her late husband’s social reforms. In pursuit of her endeavours, Mrs Wagner befriends Jack Straw, a former inmate of Bedlam, who plays a pivotal role as the action, full of plotting and counterplotting, unfolds, culminating in the morgue, where several lives hang in the balance. Jezebel’s Daughter, serialised from 1879 to 80, is a prime example of Collins’s sensation novels, and was based on his play The Red Vial. As seen often in Collins, the depiction of strong and ‘active’ women defies the convention of his time, and the plotline is gripping and full of suspense.  To find out more, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/jezebels-daughter-unabridged

Wilkie Collins – Jezebel's Daughter (sample)

William James was one of the most influential figures in 19th-century American philosophy and psychology. His Pragmatism is a set of lectures that he gave in 1906–07 in answer to the enduring debate between empiricism and rationalism. Shifting between them, he proposed pragmatism as a method, the idea being that the value of any truth is dependent upon its utility – upon its practical and experiential consequences. To address the critical response to his ideas that followed, he produced in 1909 The Meaning of Truth, collecting together further writings on the issue to consolidate and reinforce his position. With a gift for language akin to that of his brother Henry, his work remains both highly readable and thought-provoking. To find out more, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/pragmatism-and-the-meaning-of-truth-unabridged

William James – Pragmatism and The Meaning of Truth (sample)

An unsettling tale of plague, drift and terror, The Shadow-Line documents a young seaman’s coming of age after he is recruited to captain a ship for the first time. Bad luck and disease haunt the inexperienced hero and his crew, and the evil legacy of the previous captain overshadows them with a feeling of supernatural menace. Against all odds, the young captain must get his crew through the Gulf of Siam to safety in Singapore, before they succumb to malaria and the curse of his mad predecessor. Written in 1915 and based on Conrad’s own experiences 27 years earlier, The Shadow-Line is a gripping take on the lines between youth and maturity, sanity and madness. For more information, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/shadow-line-the-unabridged

Joseph Conrad – The Shadow-Line (sample)

Published in 1884, Against Nature (À rebours) concerns the attempts of its cultured and neurotic anti-hero, Des Esseintes, to escape contemporary Parisian life. At his rural retreat he is able to indulge his particular artistic tastes as he muses on a range of topics including literature, religion and painting.

Although regarded as shocking on its publication, Against Nature was received with enthusiasm by the aesthetic movement and, most particularly, Oscar Wilde, who featured the book in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Against Nature marks a departure from the classic form of 19th-century literature, and this audiobook features the full text, with previously expurgated parts restored. To find out more, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/against-nature-unabridged

Joris-Karl Huysmans – Against Nature (sample)

Comprising 10 short stories, The Confessions of Arsène Lupin first appeared in 1913. Each story features the eponymous gentleman-burglar, who deploys his remarkable wit and skill to plot a path through aristocratic society, outwitting both police and criminals along the way. This collection contains tales of romance and mystery, with Lupin himself never above performing the occasional good deed, while pocketing his own rewards, in the course of his adventures.

The collection contains The Wedding Ring, A Tragedy in the Forest of Morgues and The Invisible Prisoner. To find out more, visit https://naxosaudiobooks.com/confessions-of-arsene-lupin-the-unabridged

Maurice Leblanc – The Confessions of Arsène Lupin (sample)

Published in 1801, Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda is an absorbing novel that mirrors social and domestic life among the English gentry. In her pursuit of a suitable marriage, Belinda encounters an array of characters including the dazzling socialite Lady Delacourt, the feminist Harriet Freke, the wealthy and handsome West Indian Mr Vincent and the impulsive Clarence Hervey.

Belinda follows the tradition of society novels charting the journey of an intelligent young woman in search of an ideal husband, with its heroine Belinda eschewing material wealth in favour of happiness and self-fulfilment. Anticipating the realism of Jane Austen’s female heroines, the novel presents a vivid portrayal of life in late 18th-century London, depicting leisured society in all its aspects. Visit naxosaudiobooks.com/belinda-unabridged for more information.

Maria Edgeworth – Belinda (sample)

Written in 516, The Rule of Saint Benedict for monastic living has been soul-inspiring for a countless number of people – not only monks, nuns and priests, but also a considerable number of lay people. It covers matters of doctrine, the structure of the monastery as the House of God, and observance of the Divine Office. The Rule gives a fascinating insight into the standards and behaviour expected of monks in their everyday lives. It remains notable for embodying the concept of a written constitution and influencing the shape of medieval Europe. Today the Rule, with its universal message, offers a deep and practical spirituality to all people desiring a good life. For more information, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/rule-of-st-benedict-the-unabridged

The Rule of St Benedict (sample)

Vincentio di Vivaldi has fallen in love with Ellena Rosalba. However, his proud and noble family vehemently oppose the match: they cannot allow him to wed someone with no money or social standing. Thus, his mother, the mean-spirited Marchesa, and her minion, the evil monk Father Schedoni, set in motion a malign plot that has Ellena kidnapped and imprisoned in a convent, to prevent a hasty marriage. Vivaldi’s attempt to free Ellena leads to his arrest and incarceration in the dungeons of the Inquisition, a terrifying maze of tunnels and chambers beneath Rome, while Ellena is taken to a lone dwelling by the sea… In part a response to Matthew Lewis’s The Monk, The Italian is a deeply atmospheric novel, combining sublime landscapes and unnerving feelings of fear and dread. It is one of the landmarks of Gothic fiction. For more information, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/italian-the-unabridged

Ann Radcliffe – The Italian (sample)

First published in 1920, This Side of Paradise proved to be a best-selling novel in Fitzgerald’s own lifetime. The book follows the early life and education of Amory Blaine and is, in fact, a thinly disguised account of Fitzgerald’s own experience as an undergraduate at Princeton and as an aspiring writer. Brilliantly original in its experimental narrative, it comprises a series of contrasting styles and structures. The novel formed the launchpad for Fitzgerald’s career as a novelist and was received with enthusiasm on its publication, with the Chicago Daily News titling its review ‘Whew! How That Boy Can Write!’ Visit naxosaudiobooks.com/this-side-of-paradise-unabridged for more information.

F. Scott Fitzgerald – This Side of Paradise (sample)

A.J.A. Symons discovered Frederick Rolfe’s Hadrian the Seventh in 1925 and became consumed with fascination for its eccentric author, aka ‘Baron Corvo’. His ‘quest’ takes the form of an irresistible detective story, the twists and turns of his investigation into Rolfe’s unfortunate life resulting in a groundbreaking form of biography that reveals much about both men. It paints a tragi-comic portrait of a prickly, paranoid, talented Englishman who failed at becoming a Catholic priest and led a profligate lifestyle in Venice; a charmer with a sharp wit, a vituperative tongue and a talent for self-destruction. The process and the subject are as fascinating as each other, and this ‘experiment’ continues to stand out nearly a century after it was published. For more information, visit naxosaudiobooks.com/quest-for-corvo-an-experiment-in-biography-the-unabridged

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